Mimicking

As I toweled off after my shower this morning my daughter grabbed an oversize towel of her own and mimicked my routine of drying off. As I watched her copy my every move I found myself reflecting on the Bible verse where Paul begs other Christians to mimick his ways as he mimicked the ways of Christ. As parents my husband and I are often struck by the way that our daughter copies us exactly, by our movements down to the very intonation of our voice as we say certain words or phrases.
It blesses my heart in those moments when she asks to pray to Jesus and shouts 'Amen!'
Other times I find myself cringing as she is sassy or behaves as I do in my less-than-finer moments.
All in all I am challenged to copy the ways of my Lord and Savior, admittedly not consistently doing so. It's really the only way to parent! If we are copying Christ and following His ways then ultimately our children will copy those same things as they see us exhibiting Christ's ways.
Taking it one day at a time... 

By Faith not Formula..

What a gift it is to be journeying with friends through the book "Desperate" by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson!
Today the Lord TOTALLY blessed me with the opportunity to relax and read an entire chapter while my sweet toddler slept on my chest :) The chapter was all about living by faith not by formula.
Talk about conviction! Whew! With so many wonderful blogs, books, Facebook pages, etc. out there I find myself 'liking' them all and following them all - so many that I admit I am overwhelmed. There are SO many great ideas on how to raise kids in the training of the Lord, what homeschooling ideas to try, etc. etc. and we (meaning I) get so wrapped up in trying to read them all and put them into practice that it's so very easy to block out the Lord's voice.
Sad to admit but I believe that's where I'm at as I write this. I've lost the sound of God's voice leading me as I tend to my family. I've been so focused on following various formulas that I am not walking by faith in the Spirit. And yet God is so very faithful. It's on those days where I feel like I'm messing up by not getting enough done, not practicing the formulas correctly that I have the best interaction with my daughter. She gets frustrated and agitated when I'm online reading blogs and trying to implement different activities (force them really), but when I stop trying and just get down to her level and listen to her, cuddle with her, give her tons and tons of kisses, dance with her, allow her to sleep on my chest instead of forcing her to nap on her own so I can have my own time...when I slow down enough to go at her pace, I find peace. I don't feel rushed. When I treat her with respect and am gentle and kind in my requests, she chooses to obey. So very opposite a reaction when I threaten her or speak to her harshly - usually when my attention is divided is when I speak to her this way. *Sigh*
Thank you Lord for second chances. And third and three-hundred! Thank you for new mercies every. single. morning. Thank you for books like this one to wake me up to Your voice! You have been leading women in motherhood and wife-hood for thousands of years without how-to books. Without blogs to follow and without Facebook pages and people to follow. Lead me by Your sweet, kind, gentle Spirit.
You formed my daughter inside of me and You alone know her every thought, her every dream, her soul. Teach me how to be her mother. How to train her and how to discipline her. How to lead her into dependence on You. Help me leave her in Your hands as she is Yours first and foremost. 

Full-filled
At the end of yesterday I looked at my toddler covered with evidence of our full day. In her hair were bits of broccoli and dirt, on her face was juice from tomatoes and crumbs from almond banana bread, and covering her clothes were tomato seeds, dirt, and a variety of other sources of stickiness. The smile that lit up her face was priceless.
Our Sunday didn't go as planned. It was so much better!
The day was spent dancing to worship music, reading stories, digging in the dirt, planting new plants, watering the garden and walking to the park. My ears were filled with giggles as my daughter flew high on the swings, slid down the slide and made new friends. While preparing dinner I heard sounds of turkey calls and laughter as she helped my husband prepare for his turkey hunt coming up in the garage.
My heart was warmed as she asked for broccoli, apples, grapes, kale chips and almond milk throughout the day. As she ate the same spinach quiche, carrots and apples we had for dinner.
And I melted as she asked for her blankie and mama's milk, then cuddled up in my arms, this long-legged, curly haired, quarter pound toddler, drinking the nourishment that God designed my body alone to provide her.
I didn't get a lot of things done and I'll admit, many days I don't get it right, but days like yesterday....yes. I will hold in my heart and thank God for such a full day. 

31 day Marriage Challenge

Day 1 -

Today's Challenge:

Read 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter) and jot down some of the thoughts that come to mind such as:

• What is God's definition of love? Pretty amazing and perfect! 
• What are the characteristics of love? 
• Patient, Kind, Does not envy, Does not boast, is not proud, does not delight in evil, rejoices in truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, never fails!
• In what areas of "loving" do I stumble the most? Trusting
• What are a few of the steps I can take toward change? Let go of my pride and trust! Be vulnerable
• 
  
• I will be patient.
• I will be kind.
• I will not envy.
• I will not boast nor be prideful.
• I will not delight in evil but will rejoice in the truth.
• I will always protect.
• I will always trust.
• I will always hope.
• I will always persevere in my marriage.
• My love will never fail.

Analogy of a parking space

The other day I parked in the parking lot at Target and sat in my car for a few minutes answering some text messages. I glanced over at the car in the space next to me and thought, "oh no! I must be parked crooked!" since I was clearly not lined up with that vehicle.
I proceeded to get out of my car and looked at the white lines. I was parked perfectly straight within them! It was the car next to me that was very crooked.
In that moment I had a bit of a reflection on how we live our lives comparing with other people's. As a follower of Jesus Christ I thought, how many times do I compare my life to other people's rather than to Jesus' life?
Jesus' life is like the "white lines" of a parking space. It is permanent and correct (assuming the city worker's have painted them straight, but that's besides the point in this analogy ;) and we are instructed in the Bible to model our lives after Jesus, who came to earth and showed us how we ought to live. If we are aligning our lives within the "white lines", so to speak, we can rest in peace.
Too often however (I'd say most of the time for many of us) we look to the lives of other people - especially other "Christians" and try to model our lives after theirs. We are often disappointed and sometimes confused and frustrated when our lives don't match up to theirs. OR we exert so much energy trying to make our lives look like theirs only to be dissatisfied and empty when we reach that goal.
I know that I have lately been focused so much on the lives of certain believers that I admire and look up to and have felt that my life is below par because I'm not in a third world country or out on the mission field somewhere living only off the support of others or serving in full-time ministry at a church, etc. etc.
But when I look at the life of Jesus - those white lines - I see that there are other things in my life that I need to be focusing on and working toward. Serving everyone like He did. Loving everyone like He did. Right where He was at.
Of course it can go both ways. Sometimes we also focus too much on the lives of those lives appear crooked and we think, "well my life looks pretty good! at least I'm not committing that sin!" when in reality we, again, need to fix our eyes on the things above, on the life of Jesus, on aligning our lives with those white lines, and we'll be on the right track and stop judging others and allowing ourselves to be full of meaningless pride.